GROUND LEASES TO BE SOLD TO FUND SCHOOL EXPANSION

WOKINGHAM District Council has decided to sell off ground leases it owns at a Finchampstead industrial estate to help fund a £2.6 million expansion of Maiden Erlegh School.

The move to sell off eight large industrial and warehouse buildings owned by the council in the Hogwood Lane Industrial Estate, and which bring in around £110,000 a year in rent, has come in order to limit the amount the council borrows from the Government towards major projects.

The district council's decision-making executive decided to sell the leases at a meeting

on Thursday evening and the funds generated by the sell-off will go some way in enabling the major expansion planned for Maiden Erlegh School, subject to consultation and planning permission, offering more places to more pupils.

Cllr Perry Lewis, executive member for capital and assets, said: "Education is one of the highest priorities for this council. We have carefully evaluated the impact on tenants of the industrial units and concluded that selling the leases would make little, if any, difference to the companies involved.

"Our first priority for our limited funds should be investing in those property assets we use to deliver services to residents like school buildings, old people's homes and day care facilities."

The cost to Wokingham District Council of borrowing the £2.6 million needed for the first phase of the Maiden Erlegh project would be £231,000 from April, based on a borrowing cost of 9 per cent.

By selling off the leases for eight of the 31 units on the five-acre site to property developers the council will save £100,000 a year on interest payments to the Government.

Details on the precise value of the leases have not been released by the council as it is commercially sensitive.

The leases of the remaining units for smaller business units on the estate will remain with Wokingham District Council.